The invention relates to the field of document production by dictation, voice-to-text conversion, and automated processing.
In general, methods of authoring a document have changed little in the past forty years. A typical example may be the method by which physicians document medical procedures. Physicians typically hand-write or dictate their notes at the conclusion of a medical procedure. The notes are sent to a transcriptionist for typing. The transcriptionist creates a typed version of the notes by reading the handwritten notes or by listening to the dictated notes and then typing them by hand. Numerous typing errors may occur because of the transcriptionist""s unfamiliarity with the physician""s handwriting or because it may be difficult to understand the dictation. If the document is proofread for clarity and a question as to the selection of a transcribed word is raised, then, when the listen-and-type methodology is used, it may be difficult to locate the dictation on a dictation audiotape.
After initial transcription, hardcopy documents are typically returned to and edited by the physician. Final edited documents are then manually filed with a patient""s medical records. If other physicians or an insurance company require copies of the records, the physician""s secretarial staff could prepare the copies and transmit them, as required. Often a number of documents must be generated based on one patient visit. For example, an attending physician may send a thank you letter to a referring physician, an insurance form is often required to ensure proper billing, and follow-up notes may be required to verify the status of the patient or laboratory test results. Time and labor is required to generate each of these documents.
The present invention uses voice recognition technology and a voice recognition engine to transcribe dictated notes and may eliminate the need for traditional read-and-type or listen-and-type transcription. Method and apparatus for voice dictation and document production are provided. An embodiment of an apparatus to generate an editable text file from a user""s dictation using voice recognition technology may include a computer interface and a computer in communication with the computer interface including a voice recognition engine, a database, and a memory.
An embodiment for a method of entry of dictation into a plurality of documents may include receiving an indication of a selection of a plurality of documents from a list of documents, receiving an indication of a field descriptor of a first field in a document, receiving dictated speech to be entered into the first field, writing transcribed text representative of the dictated speech to the first field, and writing the transcribed text to other fields having the same descriptor in each of the other selected plurality of documents.
An embodiment of a method of generating text, including variable data, from dictation, may include converting dictation to a first string of text, prompting a user for a variable value, converting additional dictation to a second string of text representative of the variable value, and combining the first and second strings of text.
An embodiment of a method of generating a document from dictation may include acquiring data related to a plurality of dictation subjects, populating a database with the acquired data, receiving identification of a first field in a document, the first field to include additional data related to a dictation subject, receiving dictated data related to the first field, generating a first audio portion and a first text portion from dictated data, and storing the first audio portion in an audio file and the first text portion in an editable text file.